Nature of the Problem
Does what happens to the mother prior to birth impact the development of the child after birth? Factors that affect the mother in the prenatal have a major negative impact on the child’s development.
Reviewer Comment
Prenatal development is crucial to a healthy birth for both the mother and the child. Three trimesters define major portions and milestones of prenatal development. The milestones of prenatal development begin with the germinal phase, followed by the embryonic phase, ending with the fetus stage. Global, cognitive, behavioral, socio-emotional, and psychomotor are five aspects of infant development which can be potentially impacted by external forces. A greater understanding of the effects of both prenatal and postpartum maternal distress on a larger scope of infant developmental conclusions is essential to prevention and early intervention strategies. A larger foundation for crucial strategies to build upon will lead to better treatment and more accurate prediction of potential outcomes of stress during pregnancy. An important strategy for the prevention of developmental problems is largely influenced by an increasing understanding of environmental influences on the neuroplasticity of the young brain. However, it also urges us to inspect earlier conditions in a child’s life that have not been adequately investigated yet. Physical stress can lead to major negative impacts on the child’s development. Teratogens are environmental
A child develops through its whole life. They can develop; physically, linguistically, intellectually, socially and behaviourally. “Physical development is the way in which the body increases in skill and becomes more complex in its performance” [Meggitt, 2000, Page 2]. Twenty five days after conception; the body of the chid has developed immensely from the small fertilised egg. Up to birth the foetus mainly develops physically however once the child is born the child then begins the long process of development. Not only do the gross motor skills and the fine motor skills develop on the baby, but the sensory development also widens on the child.
Development of children begins at conception however the parent’s health and lifestyle prior to conception could influence a baby development.
During the last two decades, researchers have intensified their efforts to expand the findings about paternal perinatal depression. The study conducted by Goodman in 2004, has shown that the postpartum depression’s prevalence among fathers varied from 1.2% to 25% in the population sample. Furthermore, these percentages rose to achieve 24 to 50 per cent when the paternal postpartum depression was associated with maternal postpartum depression. The literature review and studies asserted the detrimental consequences of paternal perinatal depression on child wellbeing and development (Children, C. on D., Parenting Practices, and the Heaslthy Development of, Medicine, I. of, Education, D. of B. and S. S. and, & Council, N. R., 2009) such as hyperactivity, emotional deregulations, behavioral problems (Davis, Davis, Freed, & Clark, 2011, van den Berg et al., 2009). These studies outlined the importance of prevention and intervention to foster the paternal perinatal depression issue, through developing screening, diagnosis and management guidelines.
The prenatal period is when quick changes in the fetal organs are vulnerable to organizing change and stability but also building internal working system to trigger emotional responses (McEwen et al. 2013). It is a critical time for brain development and the PFC (McEwen et al. 2013). It exposes a selection of long -term modifications on brain development and behaviour (Entringer et al. 2009). Prenatal exposure to stress affects hormones in the body including the physiology and anatomy that relate to increasing drug levels, cortical communication and more (Entringer et al. 2009). Fetal stress is any event that interrupts a fetal process in stability in the body. (Entringer et al. 2009). During pregnancy, maternal stress impends the fetal nervous system and shortens the length of maturation due to many issues and concerns affecting the mother (Entringer et al. 2009). During pregnancy, maternal psychosocial stress threatens the fetal nervous system and contracts the length of gestation (Entringer et al. 2009). High levels of placental corticotrophin- releasing hormone
As previously mentioned, environmental factors, such as exposure to taratogens, can affect the development of the unborn child. Broderick and Blewitt (2105) define a teratogen as “substances or agents that can cross the placental barrier and produce fetal deformities when taken or absorbed by the mother during pregnancy” (p.619). These substances include drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, pollution, stress hormones, poor nutrition, and diseases, such as AIDS. Consumption of drugs and/or alcohol can lead to low birth weight, as well as, physical, cognitive, and behavioral abnormalities. Furthermore, more recent studies are showing that exposure to pollutants can affect an individual’s development. For example, a study of the
At the same time, the socioeconomic of the environment in which the mother is found has the potential to harm the future behavior and health of the child in utero. This is due to the fact that poor economic income and little to no education brings about extreme stress and anxiety, doing nothing more than stressing the environment in which the fetus is growing. Tearne says “Obstetric complications, like gestational hypertension, have been used to predict internalizing and externalizing childhood mental health problems” (3). However, it has been seen that the worst kind of problem to encounter during this critical period would be low birth weight and premature birth, as it increases being diagnosed with ADHD and autism. Of course, the timing of when these risk factors come into play have a large difference on the severity of the problem contracted. While still in utero, if the child is exposed to any of the maternal or obstetric risk factors, the development of the mental disorder they are impaired with will continue to increase in severity over the next fourteen years of the child’s life (Tearne 7). Thus, in order to decrease the possibilities of contracting any mental, emotional, or behavior disorder, the
Although there are many factors that affect the development of the fetus, research on the specific effects of prenatal maternal stress and the resulting negative outcomes for the development of the fetus will be reviewed. While there is knowledge of these harmful effects in scientific and medical communities, researchers are still in the midst of discovering the results of these negative effects on human development. An overall review of the literature suggests that this topic is still relatively new in research as most of the articles make note that despite the amount of current research studies, there are still many unanswered questions.
A mother’s socioeconomic status impacts all aspects of not only her life, but that of her child. Where she is situated on the social ladder will influence where she lives, her access to employment opportunities, and to support networks within a community, the availability of reliable private or public transport can greatly limit access as well. It may have also influenced the quality of education she herself received, and the education her child will go on to receive. Poor education, will impact the type of employment she is able to get, which may lead
Ever since the dawn of time, pregnancy has been an important event in the life process of women. Some may argue that the maturation of the infant is solely their responsibility. However, the carrier’s habits can influence the baby’s development significantly. Some may leave the baby unharmed, while others might cause pregnancy issues. To further elaborate this topic, the following lines will discuss the effects that teratogens may have on the baby and his life.
The class discussion and textbook reading highlight some very important topics, such as the many types of teratogens and how it could really impact the child. We also discussed how the temperament and how there are three type of infants that the child could possibly fall into. The attachment of the child towards its caregiver and theory of moral development was also part of the growing of the child and how they act towards their surrounding.
Definitely, the prenatal environment has a very strong influence on the fetus’s future development. Medics or other professionals usually tell us that when babies listen to classical music in their mother’s bellies they will be smarter. Some mothers also argue that if the baby’s father and mother talk or sing to her/him when they are in the belly they will recognize their voice when they are born. “The early days of prenatal life place the developing person on a path toward health and success-or not”(Berger 2014, pg. 70). Therefore, some prenatal environments can either make a baby’s life flourish or decline. One of the biggest examples of how the prenatal environment influences the fetus’s future development is drugs, diseases, or other deformities.
Women go through a major life transition during pregnancy and early motherhood that is physically and mentally demanding making women more susceptible to stress and anxiety (Henrichs, Schenk, Schmidt, Velders, Hofman, Jaddoe, Verhulst, & Tiemeier, 2009). I have had personal experiences observing anxious young mothers interact with their infants and children. I have seen these children eventually display developmental delays, poor eating and sleeping behaviors, and even their own anxieties. I am unsure about whether this maternal anxiety accounts for these problems. How do anxious mothers impact infant development?
During the last trimester of the mother pregnancy and the during the babies early life, the mother becomes completely aloof of her needs, and is completely focused on her baby needs. The mother adheres
The idea that maternal psychological distress has deleterious effects on the fetus is very focused on today. Both human and animal models can tell us a range of things. Human models are helpful at providing longitudinal data, which can help with long-term intervening methods. There are a large amount of reviews that indicate women who express greater distress during pregnancy give birth to babies earlier, that are lighter than normal and have a higher tendency to develop mental and physical problems later in life, than those who do not experience as much stress (DiPietro, 2004). Wadhwa, Sandman, Porto, Dunkel-Schetter and Garite (1993) conducted a study where they
“As infants grows older, they form close and enduring emotional attachments with the important people in their lives”. Reference 1. This essay will discuss the developmental period of infancy. Infancy is categorised as the development stage of a human from birth to 2 years of age. Infancy is a time in the human life that involves rapid growth and extraordinary changes in the first two years of life. Infants not only grow dramatically physically, their brains develop, and there is the start of locomotor skill development as well as the start of reflexes and sensory growth. The essay will also discuss anxiety and the role it plays with infants in regards to physical, cognitive and psychosocial stages an infant experiences. This essay will argue that the attachment of an infant to its mother is highly important. It will discuss the different way in which attachment affects an infant. This essay will discuss typical development milsetones in the first year years of human life. It will then go to analysis the relationship between infants being in day care or at home with their mother. T The typical physical development of a babys starts at borth. When a Baby is born on average it will weigh 3.4 kilograms and measure to be around 51 centimeters. A baby is typically 25 percent of its final adult weight when it is born but by its